Presumed GOP VP nominee to visit alma mater Miami Wednesday

The guest speaker at the office opening will be Butler
County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jocelyn Bucaro who, according to a
news release, will contrast the competing visions of President Barack
Obama and his presumptive Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

“The Romney-Ryan budget would devastate the security of
senior citizens — ending Medicare as we know it by turning the program
into a voucher system and privatizing Social Security,” the release
read.

Along with a Milford office which is also opening Tuesday, the Oxford office with contribute to the total of nine campaign offices in the region. The Obama campaign has offices in East Walnut Hills, College Hill, Forest Park, Cheviot, Middletown, Springboro and Mason.

Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Ryan will speak Wednesday evening at Miami
University’s Engineering Quad, according to the Miami College
Republicans’ Facebook page.

Ryan graduated from Miami in 1992 and was asked back as the commencement speaker in 2009.

Council also approves 2014 property tax increase

Cincinnati City Council on Friday approved a budget that
relies on parking privatization as a means to plug a $34 million budget
deficit while also raising property taxes in 2014.

Mayor Mark Mallory opened up the council meeting with a
moment of silent prayer for the 27 students and adults killed at an
elementary school in Connecticut.

“I want us all to take a moment and put into perspective what we’re doing today,” he said.

Council voted to increase the property tax by about 24
percent, from 4.6 mills (a mill is equal to one-tenth of a cent) to 5.71
mills. That means Cincinnatians would pay an additional $34 for every
$100,000 of their home’s value.

The vote reverses a move made last year by conservatives on council, who reduced property taxes.

Council also passed a budget that relies on $21 million
from a proposed lease of the city’s parking facilities — a deal that is
expected to be voted on in March. Of the proposals submitted to the city
so far, Cincinnati stands to gain $100 million to $150 million in an
upfront payment and a share of the profits over the 30-year lease.

“My concern about balancing this budget with a onetime
revenue source by selling our parking system seems to be ill advised,”
said Independent Councilman Chris Smitherman. “We don’t know how council
will vote in March … but we have tied not only the budget to this one
time revenue source, but we have also tied reciprocity.”

Council nixed a plan to eliminate tax reciprocity for
people who lived in Cincinnati but worked elsewhere and paid income tax
in both cities.

Though the budget doesn’t mention parking privatization, council hasn’t mentioned other options to close the budget deficit.

If opponents of parking privatization want to keep
facilities under city control, they would have to come up with $21
million in revenue elsewhere or make $21 million in cuts.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld suggested using casino revenue,
cutting travel expenses, downsizing the ratio of managers to workers,
sharing services with nearby jurisdictions and downsizing the city’s
fleet as ways to cut down the budget.

Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, long an advocate of
downsizing the police and fire departments, voted against the property tax increase
in protest of what she said was bloated spending on departments that
were outpacing population growth.

The budget also requires Cincinnati to accept police and
fire recruit classes in 2014, regardless of whether the city gets a
federal grant to fund the classes.

The budget also restores the Cincinnati Police
Department’s mounted patrol, which patrols downtown on horseback. The
city will use $105,000 from off-duty detail fees from businesses that
hire off-duty officers. Council also voted to start charging those
businesses an extra $1.64 on top of the off-duty pay.

Council also voted to shift $50,000 for repairs and
upgrades to the Contemporary Arts Center to pay for maintenance and
beautification at Washington Park, which is operated by 3CDC.

BMV reviewing driver's license rules for DACA recipients

Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is granting driver’s
licenses to some of the children of illegal immigrants, but what qualifies a few and
disqualifies others is so far unknown.

When CityBeat last covered the BMV policy (“Not Legal Enough,”
issue of Feb. 6), Ever Portillo, a 22-year-old from El Salvador, was
unable to get his license even when he was accompanied by his attorney
at the West Broad Street BMV office in Columbus. Since then, Portillo
returned to the same BMV office with his attorney, a community leader from
DreamActivist Ohio and a reporter from The Columbus Dispatch and successfully obtained his license.

At the same time, CityBeat received a tip from an
anonymous illegal immigrant after she could not get a driver’s license for her son
because, according to what she heard from the BMV, state policy is still
being reviewed.

The differences between Portillo and the woman’s
experiences are reflected by what seems to be an internal conflict at the
BMV, which CityBeat found in a series of internal documents sent by Brian
Hoffman, Portillo’s attorney. In emails dating back to January, state
officials wrote that “foreign nationals” with C33 Employment
Authorization Documents (EAD) and I-797 documents with case types I-765D
and I-821D cannot qualify for driver’s licenses. The documents are part of President Barack Obama’s
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows the children of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States without fear of prosecution.

But a Feb. 13 memo from the BMV says Ohio has not issued a
statewide policy on DACA for driver’s licenses and is currently
reviewing the process. A Feb. 19 email echoes the memo, stating “neither
the Department (of Public Safety) nor the BMV has yet issued a
statewide broadcast to provide direction regarding the DACA issue.” In a
Feb. 21 email, Lindsey Borher, spokesperson at the BMV, told CityBeat, “Our legal department is in the process of reviewing guidance from the federal government as it applies to Ohio law.”

The discrepancy between January and February may be attributable to CityBeat
originally breaking the story on the state policy, which was followed
by a barrage of statewide media coverage on the issue.

Local Republicans criticize president's record on deficit in counter-rally

President Barack Obama announced a new trade action
against China during a Cincinnati campaign stop on Monday, where he also
took the opportunity to attack Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

The U.S. filed the case at the World Trade Organization on
Monday and claims that China offers “extensive subsidies” to native
automakers and auto-parts producers.

The Chinese government filed its own complaint before the
WTO on Monday, challenging tariffs the U.S. imposes on Chinese products
ranging from steel to tires. The tariffs are meant to protect American
manufacturers against what the U.S. government claims are unfair trade
practices by China.

“(The U.S. action is) against illegal subsidies that
encourage companies to ship auto part manufacturing jobs overseas,”
Obama said before an estimated crowd of 4,500 at the Seasongood Pavilion
in Eden Park. “These are subsidies that directly harm working men and
women on the assembly lines in Ohio and Michigan and across the
Midwest.”

“It’s not right, it’s against the rules, and we will not let it stand. American
workers build better products than anyone. ‘Made in America’ means
something. And when the playing field is level, America will always
win.”

Obama went on to criticize his Republican challenger,
saying Romney made his fortune in part by uprooting American jobs and
shipping them to China. Obama accused Romney — who has criticized
Obama’s foreign policy, saying the president apologizes for American
interests — of talking the talk without being able to walk the walk.

The Romney campaign countered with an email after the
rally, saying that Obama’s economic policies were hurting the private
sector and harmed manufacturing.

“As president, Mitt Romney will deliver a fresh start for
manufacturers by promoting trade that works for America and fiscal
policies that encourage investment, hiring and growth.”

The email pointed to reports from Bloomberg finding that manufacturing and production have shrunk recently.

Before the Obama rally several Ohio Republicans held a
news conference behind a Romney campaign bus near Eden Park, where they
focused more on the deficit than foreign trade.

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot said it was “laughable” that
Obama considers himself a budget hawk. He pointed to the decline in
budget negotiations between the president and the Republican-controlled
House of Representatives, saying Obama “walked away” from talks with
Speaker John Boehner.

“Basically as president from that time last August until now, it’s been all politics,” Chabot said.

Chabot also attacked Obama on foreign policy, claiming the
president has left Israel hanging in the Middle East and is not serious
with Iran, who he says is on the brink of getting nuclear weapons.

The president in his speech said he did have a plan to
reduce the federal deficit, and would reduce it by $4 trillion over the
next 10 years without raising taxes on the middle class.

Monday’s visit to Cincinnati was Obama’s second of this
campaign and his 12th trip to Ohio this year. Romney has visited the
state 18 times during his campaign.

Obama was scheduled to fly to Columbus Monday afternoon for a campaign appearance there.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus held
a conference call with Ohio reporters Wednesday morning in response to
Tuesday comments by Democratic Vice President Joe Biden that the middle
class had been “buried” in the last four years.

“Obama and Biden have buried the middle class, and now they want to bury them some more,” Priebus told reporters.

“I mean, just imagine what Barack Obama would do. He
buried us economically in this country knowing that he would have to
face re-election. Just imagine what he would do with nothing but
daylight in front of him. Just imagine where this economy would go.”

Biden made his comments before an audience of about 1,000
in Charlotte on Tuesday. He said Republican presidential candidate Mitt
Romney’s tax cuts for millionaires would raise taxes for the middle
class.

“How can they justify raising classes on a middle class that has been buried the last four years?” Biden said.

Biden tried to clarify that he meant they had been buried by policies supported by Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan.

Republicans, however, jumped on the comment immediately,
with Romney tweeting, “the middle class has been buried the last 4
years, which is why we need a change in November.”

Priebus said despite polling showing Obama pulling ahead
of Romney in Ohio that the state would be very close. He said
Republicans have a better ground game and would “crush” Democrats.

“I think we’re going to crush the Democrats on the ground,” Priebus said.

“I just don’t think they’ve got a very good ground game. I’ve looked through it, I’ve seen it. It’s all smoke and mirrors.”

Priebus said if Romney were to lose Ohio, he was still optimistic about Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada.

“We’ve got it all on the table. Ohio is, of course,
extremely important. It’s nothing new, but I also see avenues to 270
(electoral votes) opening up for Mitt Romney in places that weren’t
there in ’08.”

In light of the current recession and the high unemployment rate — particularly among younger adults who make up a large portion of CityBeat’s demographics — we’re publicizing an employment opportunity that also benefits the public interest.

Union Township Rep. John Becker backs abortion ban for most insurance and Medicaid

Union Township Rep. John Becker doesn't exactly have a history of standing up for causes CityBeat agrees with, and this week we're seeing more of the same.

He's the voice behind another Republican-backed bill introduced Nov. 14, that, if passed, would introduce regulations that would ban most public and private health insurance policies, including Medicaid, from covering abortion care and several common methods of contraception.According to a press release from NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, H.B. 351 would manipulate language on the Ohio Revised Code to redefine abortion services and restrict public hospitals from performing abortions — even on women whose lives are at risk due to the pregnancy or who have been victims of rape.

NARAL Executive Director Kellie Copeland commented, "Imagine
facing a life-threatening pregnancy complication and being told that
your insurance won’t cover the procedure because Ohio politicians banned
that coverage.
Imagine becoming pregnant as the result of a rape, and having to cover
the cost of an abortion out of pocket because this bill became law. It’s
unthinkable."

Also introduced on Wednesday to U.S. Congress was the Women's Health Protection Act, what supporters are calling a historic pro-choice bill that would outlaw states' authority to limit women's reproductive rights by prohibiting states from passing Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which impose extra regulations on doctors who operate in medical practices that perform abortions. The bill, which will likely face harsh odds in the U.S.'s conservative-dominated House, wouldn't completely diminish states' existing anti-abortion laws, although it require judges to be more carefully reconsider cases that challenge the legality of already-existing laws. Becker's bill has yet to be assigned to a committee. Here's the bill in full.

As one of the self-proclaimed "most conservative" members of his party, he's also a cosponsor of the state's Heartbeat Bill and once called the proposal of a needle-exchange program, which could reduce the spread of infectious bloodborne diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, the product of a "liberal media agenda."

In August, Becker introduced a bill that would kick a large chunk of pregnant women and low-income parents off of Medicaid by grossly lowering the entry eligibility.

Becker also recently lobbied for the impeachment of the judge who
allowed the state to legally recognize the marriage of Jim Obergefell
and his 20-year partner, John Arthur, who recently passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease, for his decision.

Facing budget constraints, cities and states cut budgets and jobs

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today released a disappointing job report. Unemployment fell to 8.1 percent in August, and 96,000 jobs
were added nationwide. But economists were expecting about 150,000 jobs,
and the unemployment rate fell largely due to people giving up on the
job hunt, which means they are no longer counted in the labor pool.

One of the reasons for disappointment is the drop in
public jobs. People are quick to look at the private sector when these
kind of numbers come up, but the public sector employs people, too. And
the public sector lost 10,000 jobs at state and local levels, according
to today’s jobs report.

That follows the trend of the past few years. The public
sector has been doing poorly since the Great Recession started,
according to this chart from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The chart shows state and local payrolls since the
beginning of the recession. It proves quite clearly that governments have
been making cuts to public jobs.

Ohio has not avoided government job cuts. The Ohio
Department of Job and Family Services reported July’s unemployment rate
at 7.2 percent, which was unchanged from June’s unemployment rate. The
biggest loss in jobs for the month came from government, which lost
5,300 jobs statewide. In comparison to July 2011, July 2012 had 4,400 fewer government jobs.

Instinctively, it makes some sense. As the recession kicks
in and families and businesses are forced to budget for lower
expectations, it might seem natural to expect the government to do the
same.

However, many economists argue it should be the opposite.
They say the government should be used to balance out the private
sector. In other words, when the private sector is performing poorly —
recession — the government should step in to make up for the drop. When
the private sector is performing well — boom — the government can relax
and run budget surpluses.

Paul Krugman, a Nobel-winning economist, has advocated for this approach time and time again. In his New York Times
column and blog, Krugman has pushed for more stimulus efforts from the
federal government, and he called for a much larger stimulus package
than the $787 billion package President Barack Obama signed into law in
2009.

The data seems to support economists calling for more
action. Last month, the Brookings Institute conducted a study that found
June’s national unemployment rate would be at 7.1 percent if
governments hadn’t made cuts.

What this means is if governments truly want to fix the
economic crisis, they might want to kick the debt can down the road. But
considering many cities and states have constitutional amendments
requiring balanced budgets, that might be hard to pull off.

Today is the last day you can register to vote in the Nov. 2 election. You can register in person at any county board of elections, or you can mail in your registration to your county board of elections or to the Secretary of State, but make sure the postmark is no later than today.

If you're an Ohio resident, click here to download the registration form, print it out, fill it out and mail it in (or take it to your county board of elections today). Same here for Kentucky.

Statement of principles presented to staffer outside of West Chester office

Activists gathered on Thursday outside of the West Chester
office of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, asking the House’s top
official to look at reducing military spending when coming up with a
budget.

The group of nearly two dozen — which included nuns, a
veteran, a retiree advocate, a small businessman and progressive
activists — held signs reading, “It is time for Nation Building in the
United States. Cut Massive Pentagon Budget Now!” and “End Tax Breaks for
Richest 2%.”

“We’re here today in front of Speaker of the House John
Boehner’s West Chester office to drive home the fact that we believe
that over 50 percent of the budget magically, this elephant in the
House, has failed to be discussed as we discuss taking away services
that provide human needs,” said David Little of Progress Ohio.

“Any discussion that fails to address excesses in that budget is failing the American people.”

Little added that it was possible to support the troops and veterans without spending billions on pointless wars.

Butler County attorney and Navy veteran Bruce Carter said the military can be more efficient in what he called the changing
mission.

“When you refuse to have a discussion on over half of the
budget, that’s like trying to tell the Bengals to win a game without
going over the 50 yard line,” he said.

The group had a letter to deliver to Boehner, which contained what they called a statement of principles.

“We believe in a holistic approach to the budget crisis,
and in order to protect the middle-class, cuts to the Pentagon need to
be at the forefront,” the letter states. “We understand that Pentagon
cuts are a controversial issue, however, Pentagon cuts in the sequester
do not threaten our national security.”

The letter suggests that some of the money currently being
spent on the Defense Department goes to providing services for veterans.

The military accounted for about 52 percent — or $600 billion — of discretionary spending in fiscal year 2011.

In contrast, education, training and social services collectively made up 9 percent of the budget.

The group of four activists weren’t allowed into Boehner’s
office, but a young staffer met them outside. He said that the speaker
thought everything should be on the table when it came to budget cuts.